Flue smoke incinerator

ABSTRACT

AIR, SUPPLIED BY THE HEAT EXCHANGER MEANS, SUPPLEMENTS THE OXYGEN CONTENT OF THE FLUE GASES AS THEY PROGRESS THROUGH THE BURNER MEANS TO MAINTAIN COMBUSTION.   AN UPRIGHT HOUSING FORMS A GAS PASSAGEWAY COMMUNICATING WITH THE EXHAUST OF A FLUE FOR RECEIVING ITS HEATED GASES. A HEAT EXCHANGER, NEAR THE INLET END OF THE HOUSIING, REDUCES THE TEMPERATURE OF THE FLUE GASES. MEANS WITHIN THE HOUSING GAS PASSAGEWAY DIRECT THE FLUE GASES TOWARD BURNER MEANS WHICH INITITIATE COMBUSTION OF THE UNBURNED HYDROCARBONS IN THE FLUE GASES WHILE ADDITIOANL

Feb. 2, 1971 G. L.. BEASLEY FLUE SMOKE INCINERATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Sept. 24. 1969 Mum cum. L scAsLtv nu P.

FIG. 2

United States Patent O 3,560,165 FLUE SMOKE IN CINERATOR Gearl L. Beasley, 2136 W. Lindley, Oklahoma City, Okla. 73107 Filed sept. 24, 1969, ser. No. 860,735 Int. Cl. F23j 5 06 U.S. Cl. 23-277 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An upright housing forms a gas passageway communicating with the exhaust of a flue for receiving its heated gases. A heat exchanger, near the inlet end of the housing, reduces the temperature of the flue gases. Means within the housing gas passageway direct the flue gases toward burner means which initiate combustion of the unburned hydrocarbons in the flue gases while additional air, supplied by the heat exchanger means, supplements the oxygen content of the flue gases as they progress through the burner means to maintain combustion.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (l) Field of the invention The present invention relates to afterburners and more particularly to a combustion chamber for use with primary combustion devices such as incinerators or industrial ues.

Air pollution has become a major health problem in most larger metropolitan areas primarily as a result of inefficient burning of fuel or waste in primary combustion chambers. This inefficient burning results in large quantities of hydrocarbons suspended in the exhaust gases or smoke as well as larger particles which remains suspended in the atmosphere and in some instances settles out on buildings, or the like, in the form of soot. Various attempts have been made to eliminate this air pollution such as by utilizing an electrostatic type smoke eliminator for large flues which are intended to remove particles of carbon from the smoke stream, however, such devices are relatively expensive and require frequent maintenance to maintain their eiciency. Other attempts have been made to provide secondary burners to continue the combustion of exhaust gases but these devices, for the most part, have not been generally accepted. One of the reasons being that to attain eicient burning of exhaust gases it is desirable that the temperature of the gases be reduced and mixed with additional air to initiate and continue the afterburning.

This invention provides a novel means forming a heat exchanger which in addition to reducing the smoke stream temperatureprovides a large quantity of additional air which is progressively added to the smoke stream as it is moved through burner means.

(2) Description of the prior art The most pertinent prior art is Pats. Nos. 2,879,862; 2,996,143 and 3,408,167.

The principal distinction of this invention over these patents is the heat exchanger means for reducing the temperature of exhaust gases while simultaneously supplying additional air to maintain secondary combustion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An upright substantially rectangular housing is placed in communication, at its depending end portion, with an outlet of a ue. A restricted gas passageway within the housing is provided with a plurality of vertically arranged burner means. A heat exchanger, below the burner means in the path of the smoke stream, reduces the temperature 3,560,165 Patented Feb. 2, 1971 ice BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of the device, per se;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary vertical cross-sectional view of the device, to an enlarged scale, taken substantially along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1 and connected with the exhaust end portion of a flue;

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view, partially in elevation, taken substantially along the line 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a horizontal cross-sectional view taken substantially along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a top view of one of the burner means looking in the direction of the arrows 5-5 of FIG. 2; and,

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary vertical cross-sectional view of an alternative embodiment of the device mounted on the exhaust end of a ue.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Like characters of reference designate like parts in those figures of the drawings in which they occur.

In the drawings:

The reference numeral 10 indicates the device, as a whole, adapted to be connected with existing burned gases exhaust stacks or ues, such as the ue 12, above a roof line 14. The device 10 includes a housing 16 which is upright rectangular in general configuration terminating upwardly in a reduced end portion forming a stack-like neck portion 18 for exhausting burned gases. The depending end portion 16 is dened by front and rearward walls 20 and 22 integrally joined to side walls 24 and 26. Spaced upwardly from its depending end the front and side walls are inclined upwardly toward the rear wall 22, as at 27, to form the neck 18. An inwardly projecting flange 28, connected with the respective front, rearward and side walls, defines an opening 30 in the bottom of the housing for the purposes presently explained.

Adjacent its depending end the front wall 20 is apertured for removably receiving an upwardly open drawerlike tray or bin 32 substantially equal to the inside dimensions of the housing 16. A heat exchange unit, comprising a plurality of generally vertically disposed tubes 34,

is positioned within the housing in inwardly spaced relation with respect to the back wall 22. The depending end portion of the tubes are horizontally disposed and open into an air inlet chamber 36 formed by rectangular walls 37 connected with the inner surface of the back wall 22 above the bin 32.

An inverted truncated conical-Shape, in vertical crosssection, wall 40, formed of fire brick or other refractory material, having a plurality of apertures 1, is fomed within the housing 16 above the heat exchange unit and is supported by a horizontal plate 42 having an aperture 44 to dene a combustion chamber 46 for the device 10. The upper ends of the tubes 34 extend through a partition 38 connected with the back wall 22 and extending inwardly and downwardly toward the center of the housing 16. A dividing wall 48, connected with the horizontal wall 42, extends angularly inward and downward, parallel with the inclined wall 38, and is connected with an end plate 50 joining the walls 38 and 48 to form a fresh air chamber 52 opening upwardly adjacent the inner surface of the back wall 22 and communicating with the space around the wall 40. A substantially conventional burner 54 is centrally disposed in spaced relation below the partition wall opening 44 and is supported by an air inlet tube 56 communicating with the fresh air chamber 52. An auxiliary fuel line 58, connected with a supply of fuel, such as gas, not shown, extends into the housing 16 and is connected to the burner 54. Lower, intermediate and upper secondary burner 60, 62 and 64, respectively, are centrally positioned in vertical spaced relation within the refractory wall 40= by partitions 66, 68 and 70, respectively. Each of the aux-v iliary burner means 60, 62 and 64 comprise a plurality of concentric radially spaced angularly inclined ring-like Walls 72 formed of refractory material.

An auxiliary air supply, such as a squirrel cage fan or blower 74, is connected with the side wall 24 around a suitable opening formed therein communicating with the air inlet chamber 36 to force fresh aid through the tubes 34 and into the fresh air chamber 52.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the back wall 22 is provided with an opening 75 communicating with an opening 76 formed in one side wall of the flue 12. The upper end of the ue is capped or closed by an end member 78 so that flue gases, indicated by the arrow 80, flows through the housing opening 75. The flue gases 80 ow around the air tubes 34 which cool the gases as they enter the housing 16. An inclined screen 82, extending between the depending end of the end plate 50 and inner wall surface of the front wall 20 adjacent the upper limit of the bin 32, screens any large particles of carbon, soot, or the like, in suspension in the smoke stream so that it falls by gravity into the bin 32. The cooled smoke stream moves in the direction of the arrows 84 upwardly through the housing around the burner 54 which tends to ignite and burn hydrocarbons in suspension in the smoke stream. The burning gases then successively pass into and through the secondary burner means 60, 62 and `64 wherein the angular position of the rings 72 induce a change of direction in a whirling action of the burning gases which are comingled with fresh air from the chamber 52 entering the combustion chamber 46 through the wall openings 41 to enhance the burning action of the exhaust gases. The elevated temperature of the burning gases initiated by the burner 54 heats the refractory rings 72 so that they become suiiiciently hot to maintain combustion and thus more efliciently burn unburned hydro# carbons contained by the smoke stream. The resulting burned-out gases are continually exhausted through the stack-like portion of the housing 18. 4

As illustrated in FIG. 6, the device may be readily placed in surrounding relation over the upper open end of a ilue 12A which is received by the bottom opening 30 of the housing after removal of the bin 32. The opening admitting the bin is closed by a plate 86. Similarly the back wall opening 75 is closed by a plate 88.'In this embodiment a substantial portion of the smoke stream emitting from the flue 12A is cooled by the horizontally disposed end portions of the tube 34. f

IObviously the invention is susceptible to changes or alterations .without defeating its practicability,therefore, I do not wish to be confined to the preferred embodiment shown in the drawings and described herein. f i

I claim: 1. An incinerator for burning unburned hydrocarbons in a smoke stream, comprising:

'an upright housing having a downstream end and an `upstream end; i a horizontal partition in said` housing'forming a4 pri,-

mary combustion chamber in its downstream end;

said housing having a smoke admitting opening in v vitsxdepending-end; .i I a heat exchanger interposed in the-smoke stream entering said housing between theopening and the .Y primary combustion chamber for cooling the Smoke stream; an inverted truncated conical apertured wall joined to I' the inner` wall-surface of said housing in` itsfupstream end and extending downwardly toward and supportedby said horizontal partition and forming a secondary combustion. chamber, said horizontal partition having an opening providing communication 'between said combustion chambers; burner means vfor igniting unburned hydrocarbons in the cooled smoke stream; and means' supplying air to said burner means and said secondary combustion chamber' for mixture with` the smoke stream. v2. Structure as specied in claim 1 in which said heat exchanger comprises: f

a box-like vwall within the downstream end of said housing forming an air inlet chamber; inclined partitions connected with an innerwall surface of said housing and extending inwardly and downwardly from said horizontal partition and forming an air passageway communicating Withthe eX- terior of said conical wall; and v a plurality of tubes interposed between andcommunieating, at their respective ends, withsaid air inlet chamber" air passageway. 3. Structure as specified in claim 2 in which the`means supplying air comprises: a blower disposedv outwardly of said housing and communicating with said air inlet chamber. 4. Structure as specified in claim 3 in which said burner means includes: a gas burner positioned'below the opening in said horiwzontal partition;I n p a'v luralityof concentric angularly disposed cylindricalf like rings formed of refractory material in said secondary'cornbustion chamber; and,

" a eector Ipartition connected with'the inner surface ofrsaid conical walland supportingsaid rings intermediate the ends of saidA secondary `combustion chamberf: l

A hReferences.Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,679,862 i3/1959 Burden', Jr.-v 23` -277C 

